Honour among thieves
by MarvelsOnlyFan
Summary: Karami the Dark elf ventures into Skyrim with the hopes of making her fortune from the infamous Riften Thieves Guild, but her dream-like plans are abruptly interrupted when she's captured by Imperials and sentenced to death. Battling dragons, politics and discrimination soon become an everyday occurrence when you're an Dunmar Dragonborn in Skyrim. Rated M for guts.
1. Chapter 1

A large dip in the road made the cart jolt, waking the Dunmar with a jump. She went to rub her tired eyes, only to realise her hands were bound. As she looked around, trying to get an idea of where she was, the elf noticed she was surrounded by blue-clad men and women. Where did she recognise these uniforms from, and more importantly- why and how did she get here? Fearful whispers were exchanged among those in the carts, much to the drivers annoyance.

"Be quiet back there! Filthy Stormcloaks..." The Imperial driver muttered the last phrase under his breath, but it was enough to pick up. And enough to remind her if the previous days events.

* * *

She'd emerged from the forest, careful to keep sight of the foot soldiers, but keeping her distance, as not to be seen. Stormcloaks soldiers to be exact, and she was perusing them for a reason. She had noted that among these ranks, on a large grey horse, was Jarl Ulfric. Jarl Ulfric, leader of the Stormclocks and, more importantly, Jarl of Windhelm. She needed to get to the Grey Quaters of Windhelm, and, to be perfectly honest- she was lost. Terribly, terribly lost. So the Dunmar continued to follow them, in the hope they'd lead her there.

She'd been initially drawn away from Morrowind by the promise of fortune, which she could gain from the infamous Thieves guild of Riften, perfectly suited to her talents. Initially going to the Rift immediately was her idea, where she could rent out a room at an inn or such, but she knew nothing of Skyrim's customs. And she'd heard of a safe haven for Dark elves, suitably named the Grey Quarters. Her brothers and sisters would welcome her with open arms, teach her of the mannerisms of this foreign land, and she'd be off, pickpocketing and lock picking until she was metaphorically bathing in golden septims.

Well, that's what she thought would happen. She patted her dark horse, smoothing her black mane as they trotted through the peaceful path, watching the birds flying in their perfect formations. Everything seemed awfully calm. Too calm...

A single arrow ripped through the air, and suddenly everything erupted into the pure embodiment of discord. Horses reared up, throwing their riders to the ground and trampling the foot soldiers who were unfortunate enough to be within their range. Imperial soldiers sporting red and leather armour rushed in, beating the fallen Ulfric unconscious, quickly rushing to bind his mouth and hands. As she watched, she felt a dagger stab into her leg, causing her to fall off her horse. The horse thief jumped onto the mare, who galloped off into the chaos. The blinding pain rushed from her leg wound, up to her shoulder where she landed. Soon, imperials had rushed to her side and, thankful that help had arrived, she let her eyelids drift shut.

* * *

That was obviously not their intentions, as she wouldn't be here right now.

"Oh, you're finally awake." The blonde Nord who sat opposite pointed out. The same thief who stabbed her leg and stole her horse shared the same cart, as did Ulfric.

The horse thief, Lokir and the blonde Nord, Ralof continued to speak for the remainder of the journey. They came to the conclusion that, considering Ulfric was captured with them; they were undoubtedly all being sent to their deaths.

* * *

They eventually reached a city by the name of Helgen. As they travelled through the large stone arch, Ralof murmured about how these walls use to make him feel safe, putting extra emphasis on the past tense.

Even as they were listed off for execution, Lokir was still trying to worm his way out of his fate. He panicked and made a split second decision to run, and he got a reasonably distance before one of the archers shot him down with ease.

"Anyone else feel like running?" The imperial captain said, her voice seething with sarcasm. "You, Dark elf. Step forward." The two women locked eyes, trying to stare the other down. "What's your name."

"Karami of Morrowind." The Dunmar said indifferently. The man in charge of the lists flicked through his papers, searching for a name.

"She's not on the list. What should we do?" He asked, still looking at the pages.

"It doesn't matter. Send her to the block." The captain replied. She turned away, her patience was wearing thin with this weary Stormcloak rebellion.

"I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to Morrowind." He seemed to feel genuinely guilty, and Karami wondered whether he was pleased with the executions of all the captured. He didn't seem to be the type to count association as a crime. At least not one punishable by death.

* * *

She listened intently as the guards accused Ulfric of using the Thu'um to kill the High King. Thu'um; the word seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite remember what from.

Dragon shouts. It was an ancient form of words and yells that could do anything from breathing fire to controlling the speed of time itself. This was clearly the reason for his mouth being bound, as it prevented him from yelling us all to death.

The first prisoner got up and kneeled before the block, taunting the imperials. It made Ralof smile to watch his friend go down with honour- as fearless in death as in life.  
"My ancestors are looking down on me and smiling, can you say the same?" The prisoner asked just as the axe took his head from his neck. The captain called the Dunmar over next.

Karami's leg gave out as she limped over to the block, causing her to fall with a crash. She looked up at the executioner as he raised the axe, lining it up for the perfect chop. A deafening roar could be heard from a distance, but the captain insisted it was nothing. Glancing off into the sky, the elf prayed to the divines that something, anything could help her now.

As if on cue, a fearsome creature swooped down onto the tower, sending rubble down and causing the executioner to tumble over, the axe ask barely missing her feet.

"Yol-!" The creature roared, sending a wave of fire towards the Imperials and Stormcloaks alike, knocking Karami to the floor, her ears ringing and her eyesight blurred.

Suddenly she was forcefully dragged to her feet by Ralof, who then immediately ran to the closest tower to take cover. She stumbled after him as fast as her leg allowed her, just reaching cover before the door came down behind her. The Stormcloaks had all cut each others hands free, but the elf was still struggling to slip out of the binds.

A red-haired Breton was struggling to remove the the rubble on the stairs. Ralof noticed the dragon returning, and yelled out for him to run.

"No! Just one more stone-" the dragon burst through the wall, and the Breton fell to the tower floor, unmoving.

"Jump through the wall!" Ralof called up to her. "I'll follow behind!"

The elf looked down, heights had never really been her favourite, and prepared to jump. She closed her eyes, and made a hopeful leap of faith. She jumped on the thatched roof of the inn below, falling through and jolting her shoulder again.

Groaning, she scrabbled to her feet, which was difficult regarding a knife wound in her leg, a jolted shoulder and bound hands. Eventually she stood up, and made a desperate attempt to run out before the next person jumped.

"Prisoner, you still alive?" The imperial who questioned her execution stood with his weapon drawn. Panicking, she froze. It seemed this was where her luck finally ran out. "You better stay with me if you want to stay that way!"

A few meters away, an injured man lay with his son besides him. The guards were calling for the boy to run, and with a final glance at his father, ran to them. Karami hurriedly grabbed a shield from a guard, and raised it above the injured man to shield him from the fire. The dragon left, and the guards rushed to get him to safety.

The elf and the guard ran through the empty houses to the keep, where they saw Ralof approach. Ralof and the Imperial ran to the different entrances to the keep, calling for her to come with them. Looking to either soldier, she never noticed the dragon behind her until it began to summon another wave of fire.

The Dunmar rushed away from the fires that raged mere inches behind. Ralof held out his hand to catch her, but her leg gave out once again, sending her crashing to the ground.

The last thing she saw before the fire wrapped around her was Ralof turning and rushing into the keep, never bothering to save her.

**Yes I know the injured guy dies, but I wanted to keep him alive for use in later chapters. And this will get to the thieves guild eventually. Just want to introduce it with a few chapters first.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I have got to stop starting new fics if I can't finish the ones I'm already doing :|**

* * *

The creaking of an old chest brought Karami slowly to her senses. As she gradually tried to get up, someone rushed over and told her to take it slowly.

_I am taking it pretty slow..._ She though to herself, but co-operated none the less. Looking up, she notice that the person helping her was the Imperial soldier from outside.

Once she was sat upright, her eyes wandered the large room she was in. Beds were lined up against the stone wall, along with personal chests, and weapon and armour racks could be seen on the other side of the room. She looked down at the cold stone floor, and the bed she was led on. Dotted around the bed and floor were several types of bandages and health potions, though some were spilt or knotted up. The soldier approached with a green potion.

"The green ones help you regain your strength. I think." He handed her the bottle, which she took almost immediately. She wasn't sure why, but the elf felt completely drained of all energy. Taking the bottle from her mouth, Karami noticed the bandages over her hands and all up her arms. "I'm a soldier, not a healer, but I tried my best. You're lucky to have survived burns that serious." She groaned as she fell back onto the bed, rubbing her eyes and sighing in frustration. She didn't seem to have the capability to remember anything that was happening to her recently.

"I've given you every potion I could find, so you'd wake up quickly, but it may affect how you think for a while. Just... Try not fall over." The Nord reached out his hand to help her up, which she reluctantly accepted. "Hadvar, by the way. And you are?"

She held her breath, not wanting to fully trust this man just yet. Hadvar nodded as he realised this, pointing toward the door on the other side of the room.

"Get some decent equipment from around the room, then we need to leave. You were out for only ten minutes, but we don't know whether we're safe yet."

After stumbling around for a few steps, Karami managed to straighten her back and walk in a remotely straight line. She picked some leather armour out of a chest, which was enormous on her, but would have to suffice. She reached out for a sword on the wall- not her ideal choice either, but there wasn't anything else.

It all seemed very heavy, and her mind was clouded from the potions, but she made her best efforts to move onwards.

* * *

Before long, the two heard footsteps and muffled voices. Stormcloaks. Hadvar suggested trying to reason with them, which the elf silently agreed to. They stepped out with their weapons sheathed, announcing that they meant no harm, but there was no agreement from the opposition, who immediately advanced with their weapons.

The Nord skilfully dodged the first attacker, a young Nord male, who fell to the ground with the weight of his own axe. He then drew his own weapon and impaled it into the back of the older, female attacker. The young man quickly left his weapon and ran, the Imperial leaving him alone.

Karami stood impressed, as this was the first time she'd seen him in close combat.

* * *

After several more rooms, Karami stumbled down some stairs after Hadvar. She leant against the wall, her entire body aching with the burns she acquired. The potions were wearing off, and she lacked the physical ability to proceed in this state.

"Get... Could you try to get me some more potions?" She rasped as she slumped to the floor.

"Get to the next room at least, there's loads of potions down there." She shot him a questioning glance, to exhausted to speak anymore. "It's the torture room. There's plenty, they need to keep some way to make sure the prisoners don't die mid-questioning. There might even be a healer."

Using the last ounce of strength she believed to be left in her body, the elf crawled into the torture room, only to look up and see a Stormcloak towering in front of her.

She stood there like a deer in headlights, unable to move or summon any suitable reaction. She was so certain that she was going to die, that she didn't feel a reaction was necessary. Just as the Nord reached for his weapon, another man rushed up behind him and urged him to stop.

"I know her, it's alright." She recognised the second man to be Ralof, and she grew restless. When was Hadvar going to show up? He had said he would be back soon, but if he did, it was likely that either Hadvar or Ralof would be dead by the end, and she wasn't too keen on either of them dying (even if that dumb Stormcloak had left her to die).

After a hushed discussion the two men came to an agreement, to leave the Dunmar here with some potions to heal herself. She apparently was too weak and would slow them down, but Ralof didn't seem to want her dead.

Almost the same time that they left, Hadvar arrived with a few lockpicks and a wooden staff. He helped Karami take the potions she needed, and handed her the staff to lean on. She then quickly explained what had happened, before standing up and suggesting that they leave.

* * *

Walking was much easier with the staff, not to mention the potions had temporarily lifted her ailments.

After winding round what seemed like a maze, they arrived in front of a rather large bear.

"We can sneak around it." Hadvar said quietly.

As he sneaked around the beast, Karami decided she had her own plan. By this point she had acquired a old wooden bow along with some arrows, and started to knock an arrow to fire. She drew the bow back as she aimed or the large bear, and took in a deep breath. She fired, and hit the bear in the back legs.

She had little time to enjoy her successful shot, as the shot was in fact less successful and had only angered the bear.

"Run!" She yelled to Hadvar, who turned around briefly, before sprinting out the exit as fast as he could.

The pair kept running until they were out in daylight, and still didn't stop running.

In fact, they only stopped when they heard the roar of a dragon and had to duck for cover. When they turned they saw there was no sign of the bear, so they relaxed for a moment.

* * *

**Started playing Skyrim again after a bit of a break, so the story should be a bit more frequent in chapters. And I know it's not sticking entirely to the gameplay- but what would be the fun in that?**


End file.
